Military withdraws defamation charges against Reuters, The Irrawaddy

Both charges stemmed from reporting on clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine state

Hay Man Pyae

Published on Mar 18, 2020

Min Min

Published on Mar 18, 2020

Ye Ni is seen outside the Kyauktada Township court on March 16, 2020. (Photo- Kay Zon Nway/ Myanmar Now)

The Myanmar military has withdrawn defamation charges it filed against the Reuters news agency in March 2020 and a senior editor at The Irrawaddy in April 2019.

Both charges stem from coverage of armed conflict in northern Rakhine state.

Brigadier general Zaw Min Tun, the military’s spokesperson, told Myanmar Now on Wednesday that the Tatmadaw withdrew the charges at the request of the Myanmar Press Council.

But, he added: "We urge the media not to write one-sided reports that could harm the dignity of the Tatmadaw as an institution."

Both charges were filed under section 66d of the Telecommunications Law, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.

The Irrawaddy charge was filed against Ye Ni, senior editor of the outlet’s Burmese language edition, on April 12, 2019, though the court hadn’t accepted the case until just this past Monday.

Ye Ni told Myanmar Now early Wednesday evening he had not been officially informed about the withdrawal.

The charges stemmed from an article he published by a journalist who witnessed an armed clash in April 2019 between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Mrauk-U.

In the article, a first-person account titled “Reporter's Notebook: On the Ground in Mrauk-U”, the reporter described hearing gunshots and “deafening artillery explosions” when a Myanmar military convoy entered the town and opened fire.

It was actually first published in English and written by Moe Myint, a senior reporter for the site’s English language edition. The military did not take legal action until the report was translated and published in Burmese.

Moe Myint was never charged. He has since left The Irrawaddy to become the deputy chief of RFA's Myanmar service.

Lieutenant colonel Zaw Min Tun of the Yangon Regional Command, who filed the complaint with the Kyauktada township police in April, said the dispatch contradicted the military’s official statement on what happened that day while failing to include a response from the Tatmadaw.

Myint Kyaw, the press council joint secretary, said anytime someone wants to dispute the way the news is reported they should come to the press council instead of the courts.

"We welcome the withdrawal and hope there are no more cases like it in the future," he told Myanmar Now.

The military filed a complaint with the press council on January 30 of this year about a January 25 headline on a Reuters story they also said was biased and one-sided.

The headline, which paraphrased comments from a member of parliament, read: ‘Two Rohingya women killed as Myanmar army shells village – MP".

Reuters changed the headline after learning about the military’s complaint. The new headline dropped the attributed remarks and clarified that it was unclear who was responsible for the deaths.

In a statement included with the updated version, a Reuters spokesperson said the agency stood by its original reporting but had made the changes “to fully reflect the Myanmar military’s position.”

While the press council was mediating that dispute, the military filed new legal charges - again under 66d - against Reuters and the Rakhine MP the story had quoted.

On Wednesday the military withdrew the charge against Reuters but the charge against the MP remains.

Reuters, in a prepared statement sent to Myanmar Now late Wednesday, said they welcomed the withdrawal.

(Writing by Tin Htet Paing)

Hay Man Pyae

Hayman Pyae is Reporter with Myanmar Now.

Min Min

Min Min is Naypyidaw-based reporter with Myanmar Now.

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KIA attacks police bases in Hpakant

The offensives come in the wake of deadly crackdowns against anti-coup protesters in Myitkyina

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 18, 2021

A KIA soldier watches from an outpost in Kachin state in this undated file photo (Kachinwave)

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) launched attacks against police bases in the jade mining region of Hpakant on Thursday morning, a local resident told Myanmar Now.

The attacks targeted police battalions where soldiers were stationed near Nam Maw village in the Seik Muu village tract.

“There are Myanmar police battalions around Nam Maw,” a resident said. At least three bases were attacked, he added.

A 41-year-old civilian in Seik Muu village injured his left hand during the clash, the Kachin-based Myitkyina News Journal reported.

The KIA has launched several offensives against the coup regime’s forces recently. Fighting has also been reported in Mogaung and Injangyang this month.

Some 200 people fled the Injangyang villages of Gway Htaung and Tan Baung Yan on Monday after the KIA launched an offensive against the military there.

The offenses began in the wake of deadly crackdowns against anti-coup protesters in Myitkyina. The KIA has warned the junta not to harm anti-coup protesters.

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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Four shot dead, five injured during junta attack on protesters in Kalay on Wednesday

The coup regime’s forces took the injured people away and locals do not know their whereabouts

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 18, 2021

Kalay residents move the body of a man who was shot dead on Wednesday (Supplied)

Four young men were killed and five people were injured in the town of Kalay in Sagaing region on Wednesday as protesters continued their fight to topple the regime despite daily massacres across the country aimed at terrorizing them into submission.

The Tahan Protest Group gathered in the town at around 10am and police and soldiers began shooting. One young man was shot dead on the spot as he tried to help people who were trapped amid gunfire, residents told Myanmar Now.

The regime’s forces also shot at and chased fleeing protesters along roads and through narrow alleys, a resident said.

“The crowd of protesters dispersed but one person was shot dead while trying to rescue those trapped in the protest site,” the resident added.

As the crowd dispersed, a man riding a motorcycle was shot outside a branch of KBZ Bank. “He also died,” the resident said.

Despite the murders, protesters gathered again in the afternoon around 4pm. Police and soldiers started shooting again and killed two people.

“They were shot dead while trying to set up barricades at the protest site. They were shot while trying to obstruct the army’s way as the army troops chased and shot the trapped protestors,” the resident said.

The two who were killed in the morning were identified as Salai Kyong Lian Kye O, who was 25, and Kyin Khant Man, who was 27 and had three children. The identities of the other two have not yet been confirmed.

Five people were also injured and then taken away. Locals said they did not know where they had been taken.

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Junta uses corruption allegations to expand legal case against Aung San Suu Kyi

An ex-convict businessman says that he gave the State Counsellor more than $550,000 in cash when ‘there was no one around.’

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 18, 2021

Maung Weik (first from left) is pictured near State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at the opening ceremony of a government housing built by his Say Paing Company. (Maung Weik/ Facebook)

The military council announced on March 17 that it would attempt to charge State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since Myanmar’s February 1 coup, with corruption.

The junta’s move is linked to new allegations against Aung San Suu Kyi by businessman Maung Weik. The owner of the Say Paing construction and development company, Maung Weik was formerly imprisoned on drug charges and is known to have close relationships with members of the military’s inner circle.

Military-run media aired a recorded statement made by Maung Weik alleging that he had given Aung San Suu Kyi more than US$550,000 in cash-filled envelopes on the four occasions he met her between 2018 and 2020.

“There was no one around when I gave her the money,” he said in the video statement.

Under Myanmar’s earlier military regime, Maung Weik maintained ties to several generals, including former intelligence chief Khin Nyunt.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug charges in 2008, but was released in 2014 while the country was led by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Upon his release, Maung Weik founded Say Paing–a construction company–and ran various business ventures through his connections to military officials.

Maung Weik’s wife is also the niece of military-appointed Vice President Myint Swe, who was also the former chief minister of Yangon under the former military administration.

The coup council announced on March 11 that the now-ousted National League for Democracy’s (NLD) Yangon Region chief minister Phyo Min Thein had given Aung San Suu Kyi $600,000 and more than 11 kilograms of gold. The announcement provided no reason as to why the money and gold were allegedly given to the State Counsellor by the chief minister.

A top NLD figure told Myanmar Now that the funds in question were donations to build a pagoda.

“They’re trying to fabricate this and ruin [Aung San Suu Kyi’s] reputation, but the public already clearly knows it’s not true. There’s no need to say anything else,” the official said.

The junta has also accused the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation and an affiliated project, the La Yaung Taw Academy, of losing public funds. The foundation was founded by Aung San Suu Kyi and named after her late mother.

According to the military council, the land lease for the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation’s headquarters, located on Yangon’s University Avenue, is not commensurate with the market price for land in the area. It argues that the country had lost more than 1 billion kyat (more than $700,000) in public funds as a result.

The junta declared that from 2013 to 2021, more than $7.9 million in donations from foreign NGOs, INGOs, companies and individual international donors flowed into the foundation’s three foreign currency accounts.

Also under investigation by the junta is the La Yaung Taw Academy in Naypyitaw, which trains young people in environmental conservation and horticulture in association with the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation. The military said the rate at which the land for the project was purchased came at a discount of at least 18 billion kyat (more than $12.7 million), which was subsequently a loss to the state.

It also reportedly included some plans—such as the construction of a museum—that used funds in a way that strayed from the project’s, and the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation’s, original aims.

“The construction of a building with finance from the foundation for the chair of the foundation has deviated from the foundation’s objective,” the March 17 announcement in the military-run newspaper said.

Prior to the corruption allegations, the military council had hit Aung San Suu Kyi with four charges at the Zabuthiri Township court in Naypyitaw.

She has been accused of violating Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for incitement, which carries a sentence of two years in prison; Article 67 of the communications law for possession of unauthorized items; an import-export charge for owning walkie-talkie devices; and a charge under the Natural Disaster Management Law for not following Covid-19 measures during the 2020 election campaign period.

The military council has not allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with her legal team.

“I’ll most likely see her via video conferencing on March 24 for the next hearing,” lawyer Min Min Soe told Myanmar Now.

The military council has only allowed lawyers Yu Ya Chit and Min Min Soe to take on Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, ignoring the requests of more established legal experts, including Khin Maung Zaw and Kyi Win, to be granted power of attorney.